Garmin Asus A50 pre paid

Cached · Post by **Cached** » 11 November 10 1:43 pm

covert wrote:
Cached wrote:How is it as a phone?
As a phone / Smart phone it is great. Being a Android phone it has more apps than you can chuck a stick at. Not as many as the iPhone but "there is an app for that" most the time.

Bad points I see in it are..

Runs Android 1.6. There is talk of a 2.1 or 2.2 update but until it is real don't count on it.
Camera is 3MP and at the low end of a 3MP phone camera.
No flash on the camera.
TFT screen, hard to read in bright sun.
No 3.5mm jack for headphones.

Sounding like a christmas present to me!

Now to talk hubby into it...

I found this video review very good - http://www.optus.builtforbusiness.com.a ... martphone

Nabarlek · Post by **Nabarlek** » 11 November 10 1:46 pm

I'm just starting out in geocaching. Was looking at getting a eTrex H. But if this is just as good then I'm thinking it's probably worth paying the extra $50.

What do you guys think?

covert · Post by **covert** » 11 November 10 2:01 pm

Nabarlek wrote:I'm just starting out in geocaching. Was looking at getting a eTrex H. But if this is just as good then I'm thinking it's probably worth paying the extra $50.

What do you guys think?

This for sure. An eTrex is very clumsy to use and cant go paperless. This on the other hand can go paperless better than a Garmin Oregon (my other GPS).

eTrex and Oregon would have better battery life and better topo maps (for now).

Happy Chappies · Post by **Happy Chappies** » 11 November 10 3:58 pm

dammit. someone tell me something bad about this phone so I don't feel so torn about whether to get it or not!

Soooo tempted. But then I can kind of do everything it does already - albeit with a cobbled together melange of old GPSr, iPod and netbook... and I'm trying to be good and not waste money!

plus I'm just being all retro-grouchy and resisting the smartphone revolution... or trying to... this isn't helping...

grr....

Happy Chappies · Post by **Happy Chappies** » 11 November 10 4:04 pm

actually, additional question - does it allow you to see all of the downloaded PQ caches on the garmin maps (as opposed to the google ones) as it navigates along? Or do you have to go 'online' to achieve that? And will it sync with gsak?

Cached · Post by **Cached** » 11 November 10 4:26 pm

I love this idea:

For example, when you pull the A50 out of its cradle, it assumes you have parked at your destination – and it automatically saves a GPS waypoint for your parked car, which it quietly deletes next time you put it back in the cradle. You may never have to use it, but it's a great touch.

from http://www.gizmag.com/garmin-asus-nuvif ... -on/16118/ this review.

Nabarlek · Post by **Nabarlek** » 11 November 10 4:44 pm

Another question...how viable is this going to continue to be? With Garmin not continuing with smartphones is there ever a chance it will be updated to android 2.2? Basically ... in 2-3 years time will I still be able to use this or will it be so outdated it will be obselete?

covert · Post by **covert** » 11 November 10 4:44 pm

Happy Chappies wrote:actually, additional question - does it allow you to see all of the downloaded PQ caches on the garmin maps (as opposed to the google ones) as it navigates along? Or do you have to go 'online' to achieve that? And will it sync with gsak?

Not sure about showing all the caches from a PQ. I know what you mean. I used to do it with iGo8 and a kml file. Fantastic for caching on the fly. Unfortunately my 2 iGo8 GPS's have cracked screens.

There are many apps for Android to geocache with, and a lot of them support gpx files. If the gpx file came from a PQ or GSAK is works the same.

covert · Post by **covert** » 11 November 10 4:47 pm

Nabarlek wrote:Another question...how viable is this going to continue to be? With Garmin not continuing with smartphones is there ever a chance it will be updated to android 2.2? Basically ... in 2-3 years time will I still be able to use this or will it be so outdated it will be obselete?

I believe there is still a very good chance Garmin will release a 2.1 or 2.2 version. But until they do you do not really know. It still runs most (all ?) geocaching apps for Android.

If you are on the fence check out youtube for "Android geocaching".

covert · Post by **covert** » 11 November 10 4:53 pm

Something I find really cool about Android that you don't get with the iPhone is apps using others apps like plug-ins to do functions.

Example: If your apps needs a compass it just asks the OS for a list of all compass applications and then gives the user a choice of what one to us. If the apps needs a turn-by-turn GPS is just asked the OS for a list and again.. presents the user with the list to chose from. If there is only one if just defaults to that one.

Nabarlek · Post by **Nabarlek** » 11 November 10 6:02 pm

thank you so much for all the information so far. Another question

- there is a chance I may have to change my mobile plan as I don't think the one I have now includes downloads. If I used this as an in-car gps as well as for caching and email...anyone want to make a ballpark guess at download usuage?

covert · Post by **covert** » 11 November 10 6:23 pm

Nabarlek wrote:thank you so much for all the information so far. Another question - there is a chance I may have to change my mobile plan as I don't think the one I have now includes downloads. If I used this as an in-car gps as well as for caching and email...anyone want to make a ballpark guess at download usuage?

Hard to say but I guess around 0.1Meg per cache, depends on the app. So 10 caches, 1Meg. This is all just a guess... If you use only a GPX file loaded while on Wifi / USB you will not need to use any data..

Email - a few meg a month without attachments. Again would depend on how many emails you get.

I would be looking at a plan of around 250MB to 500MB per month for a 100 caches / per month person. I am putting a $1 TPG sim into mine. 2.75c/MB . I don't intend to use the phone at all.

BigON · Post by **BigON** » 11 November 10 8:22 pm

OK, I bit the bullet and made the jump from my poor old busted up mono screen Nokia. Looks like a steep learning kerb into the new one and the included 'instruction booklet' is a once over lightly with no depth into the functions at all. Looks like I've got some internet research to do, starting with the links from this message stream.
Thanks peoples

covert · Post by **covert** » 11 November 10 8:56 pm

Youtube will be your friend in learning to use Android. A steep learning curve but well worth it.

Nabarlek · Post by **Nabarlek** » 12 November 10 10:02 am

Went into dick Smith today and asked the guy "If Harvey Norman are selling these for $641 on a $49 plan how come this one is only $199?". He blinked at me.

In the end he 'thought' it was 'probably' because with the pre-paid the gps system would count as downloads and you would have to pay for it whereas in the others it would be part of the bundle. It averages to something like $1 per kilometer which would make this rather expensive in the long run.

Can anyone confirm/deny that gps navigation (in-car or out in the field) costs?

And if it doesn't.....why is it so cheap?

Geocaching Australia

Garmin Asus A50 pre paid

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